Chácobo language

Chácobo
Chácobo
Native to	Bolivia
Region	Beni Department
Ethnicity	1,100 Chacobo (2006), possibly 50 Pacahuara (2007)
Native speakers	(600 cited 2000–2007)
Language family	Panoan Mainline Panoan Nawa Bolivian Chácobo; ; ; ;
Official status
Official language in	Bolivia
Language codes
ISO 639-3	cao
Glottolog	chac1251
ELP	Chácobo

Chácobo is a Panoan language spoken by about 550 of 860 Chácobo people of the Beni Department northwest of Magdalena, Bolivia. Chácobo children are learning the language as a first language, but the Pakawara dialect is moribund.^[2] Karipuna may have been a variant; alternative names for it are Jaunavô (Jau-Navo, Jaũn Àvo) and Éloe.^[3]

Several unattested extinct languages were reported to have been related, perhaps dialects. These include Capuibo and Sinabo/Shinabo of the Mamoré River. However, nothing is actually known of these purported languages.^[4]

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Post-alv./ Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n
Stop	p	t			k	ʔ
Affricate		t͡s		t͡ʃ
Fricative	β	s	ʂ	ʃ		h
Tap			ɽ
Approximant	w			j

Sounds /t͡ʃ, ʃ/ may also be heard as palatalized [t͡ʃʲ, ʃʲ] when before vowels in free variation.
/k/ may be heard as a voiced fricative [ɣ] when in between the positions of /ɨ/.
/t͡ʃ/ assimilates to a retroflex [t͡ʂ] when /ʂ/ is in the following syllable.
/n/ can be heard as [ɲ] as a realization of the sequence /ni/.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ɨ	o
Mid			o
Low		a

/o/ may be heard as [u] when occurring within the environment of high vowels.^[5]

Vocabulary

Some Chácobo words are given below.^[6]

Numerals

Chácobo	Gloss
nicatsu	1
dafuira	2
unamarana	3
atchayuna	4
chayuna	5

Pronouns

Chácobo	Gloss
hiasro	I
miani	you
zonihua	he/she/it/they
noquirzo	we
zunimato	you (pl.)

Vocabulary

Chácobo	Gloss
chii	fire
huisruhuaina	rain
jini	water
mai	earth
oriquiti	food
osse	moon
rsepo	chicha
rsiqui	maize
vari	sun
vistima	star

References

^ ^a ^b Chácobo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ "The last of Bolivia's Pacahuara tribe". BBC News. Retrieved 2025-09-13.
^ Distinguish Karipuna language (Rondônia), a Tupian language, across the border in Brazil
^ Fleck, David (October 10, 2013). Panoan Languages and Linguistics. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History #99. ISBN 978-0-9852016-2-3. ISSN 0065-9452.
^ Tallman, Adam J. R. (2018). A Grammar of Chácobo, a southern Pano language of the northern Bolivian Amazon. University of Texas at Austin.
'^ Montaño Aragon, M. Guía etnográfica lingüística de Bolivia' La Paz: Editorial Don Bosco, 1987

Tallman, Adam J. (2018). A grammar of Chácobo, a southern Pano language of the northern Bolivian Amazon (Ph.D. thesis). The University of Texas at Austin. doi:10.26153/tsw/1343. hdl:2152/74212.